Wade has 13 dunks this season, more than halfway to last year’s total, and looks more athletic than he did in either of the past two seasons when he talked about having an “old man game.” Nearly 27 percent of his field goal attempts are coming inside 3 feet, up from 22.9 percent last season, and almost half are from 10 feet or closer.

A lot of that has to do with another apparent contradiction: Despite missing 20 games last season, Wade is getting healthier as he gets older. His knees are, anyway. Unlike the years leading up to it, he did not miss any games in 2014-15 due to lingering knee trouble. Every injury last season was a direct result of something that happened on the court, and the only game he missed this year was for personal reasons.

“I had to play a certain way because of the bone bruise and everything I had my knee and the pain I was dealing with, but once that subsided, I was able to make the moves and do the things I wanted to do,” he said. “Obviously it’s a different scale, I’m turning 34 (in January). It’s on a different level, but I still can do certain things at certain times.”

As much as he had to reshape his game to accommodate his aching knees, he is now readjusting to being reasonably healthy again.

“I have to let myself know that I still can,” he said. “Sometimes I revert back to just playing a certain way because I played that way for a few years. Sometimes I have to let myself know that I can go down here and finish and stuff like that.

“There’s even moments it has to click that I can go down there and get all the way to the basket. A few years ago I stopped going all the way and I really used my floater. I don’t really have to use it as much this year. I can get closer to the basket. I’m getting more comfortable with that because I’m healthier than I was. It makes the game a lot different for me. I’m learning this new body right now and trying to figure it out.”

That seems a lot more fun than what he went through the last few seasons.

“It’s very taxing mentally when you have to play through pain and every movement is painful,” he said. “It’s very, very, very taxing. But when it’s not, man, you can just play basketball. That’s the joy of the game. You enjoy it. The 30 games I’ve played in, they haven’t all been amazing, but I’ve enjoyed them from just being able to physically play and do the things I want to do on the floor.

“The other day, fourth game in five nights with the hip bruise and all that, I wasn’t feeling great, but I had a bounce in my step. I always go back to how I felt three or four years ago when I was in a lot of pain, and even coming into that game sore and tired or whatever, I wasn’t in the pain I was in a few years ago. I was excited just to be out there. I worked very hard this summer. I worked real hard. And I still work hard during the season to maintain my body and understand my body. I put a lot of work into it. To see benefits of it is a good thing. I want to keep it going.”